Volume Three, Number Twenty-eight

EVERYTHING'S SUPERHEROES!

A

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

OF

THE

MLJ MAGAZINES/ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS

SUPERHERO LINES!

----------

Part Seventeen

---------

_______________________________________________________________

1980s RED CIRCLE COMICS GROUP: With the advent of the direct sales market Dick Goldwater and Michael Silberkleit--who had become co-publishers of Archie Comic Publications in early January 1983--decided that the time was right for them to return to publishing superhero comics. With Richard Buckler as editor and Dick Goldwater as editor-in-chief Archie Comic Publications made plans to release a number of comics under the company's 1970s Red Circle Comics Group imprint.

Red Circle's first title made its debut in early 1983. All-New Adventures of The Mighty Crusaders (cover-dated March, 1983, and later undergoing a title change to simply Mighty Crusaders) was not only a revival of the Mighty Comics Group's 1960s superhero team of the same name, but was also meant to be the line's flagship title around which all other Red Circle Comics Group publications would spring.

Lasting until September, 1985, the quality of this comics' material was all over the place with some stories being of high caliber--such as "The Trial of The Shield" in issue number 9--and other tales being of, shall we say, less than stellar quality (with issue number 11's "And Two Shall Fall In Battle..." being a prime example). As well, the continuity of All-New Adventures of the Mighty Crusaders/The Mighty Crusaders was for the most part hit and miss. In fact, this and poor quality material was a problem that ran through much of the 1980s Red Circle Comics Group line as we will discover next time out.

-----------------------

NEXT: THE RETURN OF THE FLY.